Arizona Trail - Day 35 - Pine, AZ + Day 36 - Zero Day in Pine, AZ
Date: April 17 - 18, 2019
Trail Mile 460.0
The photo above is a fitting picture for today: steep and rocky. Today would actually prove to be the rockiest section of the trail. Everything we thought was rocky before held little compared to today.
It rained all night and we woke up damp from humidity and condensation, but dry from the rain. The Polk Spring with its warm waters kept the entire area, including our tent, warm all night and morning. Clouds hung low over the surrounding mountains, obscuring any views of the top. Grays and whites hung ascending and tussling over one another. We packed up in the humid field, secured one last collection of water, and prepared to exit the Mazatzals and get to Pine.
Rejoining the AZT, it immediately led up a steep ascent. Black rock formed under foot as ankle-rollers abounded. A swathe of lupine grew along and up the trail - absolutely gorgeous. The trail crested a high mesa. Thick green grass grew across the flat high field. Information suggested this next section was relatively unmarked; just a series of rock cairns blending into the ground. We moved slowly across the field, making sure we didn’t stray. The fine silt and clay making up the soil, now saturated, began sticking, clinging, and weighing down our feed. Peanut butter mud. Gumbo, Frankenstein mud. We grew 6 inches each as a solid mound of earth clung to the bottom of our shoes, growing with every step. Now freshly weighed down with 5 pounds of soil on each foot, our pace slowed to a crawl. We would take a few steps and then pound our feet in an attempt to remove the soil. Unsuccessful, it was better to just keep walking.
We caught up to Wags and Frenchie who passed our off-trail campsite this morning. They were laying our their gear as sun burned away cloud. Their items were pretty well soaked as they had camped up on this exposed mesa and weathered the storm and with sideways rain. They said they would get to Pine tomorrow and that we would catch up on our Zero Day. Passing them, the trail passed into drier red dirt. The mounds under our feet began to chip away slowly.
My mind became focused on that one end: get to Pine. Again, I felt in my mind at the time, getting there would mean I could finish, that my knee would be okay. Time to move. We sped up, both sure of Pine or bust tonight.
And with that, the ground began to rise. Drastically, the land dominant plant forms of the land went from high desert to Juniper-Pinion woodland as the geology became characterized by more volcanic northern Arizona rock type. Like a curtain rising on stage, we passed from one realm into another, from south/central Arizona into the northern. A whole new trail experience lay ahead.
The trail began to absolutely disintegrate. I take back everything I said about the rockiest days before. This was the rockiest the trail had ever been. I tried to capture the absurdity of what we were climbing, but the washed out lighting of the day blended the ground texture. The steepness and stones were lost on camera. Just look at the photos and know what a mess it was. The flanks of the mountains were pure volcanic spill, boulders upon boulders of pumice and pocked rock, all smeared with lichen. Sweat poured off as we pushed upwards. The unforgiving rocks were finally felt on the bottom of my feet. Even as we climbed, the once dissipating storm clouds began to regroup. Eastward, large fast-moving cumulus clouds gathered in heaps of dark gray. Our climb with methodical, almost robotic to get to the top.
We reached a high plateau by passing through a barbed wire fence so narrow I could barely squeeze sideways. On a red dirt road, the black boulder slope was gone. The grade became more gentle. The mountainside we were climbing seemed to be easing up - we could almost see the top of the rise in the far distance. A group of thru-hikers heading south on Day 1 of their section hike met us. They asked us if the trail was as easy as the dirt road they had just walked down. Janna and I said no, and secretly thought we had just gone through a battle they had yet to enter. And with that, the trail somewhat evened out in a large open expanse of juniper-pine grasslands. We sat next to a road sign with the first indication of the Grand Canyon written on it. The skies swirled gray but we felt victorious and HUNGRY. Knocking back some jerky and bars, around the corner came Basis Ben. Basis Ben (as we called him) was a thru-hiker we had last seen in Patagonia, AZ. And here he was coming southbound! He said he reached Pine, heard from a friend about a kayaking trip down the Verde River, and was hiking back through the Mazzies to Sunflower to meet the guy by the highway. Damn - what a rockstar.
The AZT followed the red dirt roads here as a few ATVs revved past us. It sharply turned onto some rocky/jumble double track that head up into ponderosa studded hills along a telephone wire cut. We were giddy. The worst of the long climbing was behind us for the day we were only like 7 miles from town. The double track was chunky for sure, but the temperature was cool and the cloud cover kept the sun exposure down. Eventually, the AZT split from the double track after several miles and plunged into thicker forest. The trail pumped up and down repeat steep sections check full of rock shards. It came down to a beautiful meadow and swept pass a crystal-clear spring. The water quality was entirely welcome. The AZT took us up an adjoining hill full of agave interspersed with pine. At the top of this last saddle, the mighty Mogollon Rim slopes stood before us, as well as the distant rooftops of Pine.
Sloping toward town and the Mogollon Rim, the trail became well graded and smooth. Massive green and flat meadows spread before us including one with a large lake. Ponderosa Pines in full height cast shade and shadow over the trail as late afternoon wore on. We were walking fast to the highway into town. There is a brewery outside of town (THAT Brewery and Pub) and we were DETERMINED to get there at 6 (it closed at 7 on this weekday). The trail sloped through a towering ponderosa pine forest with golden light shafting between the trees. Woodsmoke from a large ranch across a stream cutting across a field added smell and invitation to the area.
Curving through the trees, we heard the whir of cars and stepped out into gathering evening, around 6 pm, onto the highway. FUCKING VICTORY. We walked the shoulder of the highway past the “Pine” city sign and within a mile, arrived at THAT Brewery and Pub. I cannot describe the absolute elevation we felt at walking up to that restaurant in the chilling air. The place freaking loves AZT hikers and has a logbook, holds resupply packages (they were holding ours), and provides a massive assortment of food. In the evening shade, we heard voices calling to us from the outside eating area. Katya was here and somehow passed us today! She was sitting with Scruffy, a thru-hiker from Tucson. We all sat together eating loads of food. I ordered a massive salad, an Elk Burger with beer cheese fries, ,and at a bowl of ice cream. The place let us stay past closing and let us take a look through the hiker box. Full of food, and the night now full on around 8:30, we began the extra mile walk into town. In the darkness, we donned our headlamps on the highway shoulder and passed a MASSIVE herd of elk just eating grass in people yards. They just looked up at us as we shined our nights from feet away. We got to the reserved cabin at 9 pm. It was insanely nice. It was more of a mini-house with a jacuzzi in the bathroom and a very modern spread. We stepped inside, and I felt a sense that I might actually be able to finish the trail.
The Zero Day was deeply deserved. In hindsight, the section of AZT stretching between Superior and Pine, Arizona would end up being the most rugged, steep, tough, and mentally challenging. Getting this Zero Day in was well worth it. We woke up later than usual (up at nearly 5:20 am daily with the Sun at this point) and made our way to the Randall House for a full spread breakfast. After that, we picked up our mail and started a long day of laundry at the laundromat next door. We walked our way to the grocery in between, picking up enough food to get us to Mormon Lake and enough to take back and binge eat. We ran into Scruffy and Katya doing the same.
Back at the cabin, I thoroughly washed and aired out all gear. I hung the Triplex up from the back porch after a thorough water wash to allow it to dry. I washed out our backpacks in the shower, repaired the hole in my front mesh, and scrubbed our shoes of salt and debris. Around lunch, we made our way to the local deli where Janna had the best sandwich she ever had in her entire life. Hunger is the best seasoning.
In the afternoon, we kicked back and watched several movies on TV, relaxing, taking a nap, and just catching up on a load of fluids. As evening approached, we made our way down to the Old Country Inn Woodfire Pizza where we ran into Wags and Frenchie - both jubilant to see us! They saved us both seats with a crew of thru-hikers including Scruffy, Katya, and Blue Skies. Katya let us know this was her last night in town as she had to head back to the Typical world in order to keep her job. She would be back this fall to finish by going southbound. After two large pizzas and a massive woodfired chocolate chip cookie, Janna and I made our way back to the cabin in the dark for one more night’s sleep in a bed.
